I think Lucia Chase certainly qualifies, although there was a strong thread of self gratification. She wanted to be a dancer and from what I've read wasn't really up to snuff professionally. ABT afforded her the opportunity to perform.

Harkness was an interesting case, all I really know about her I learned from the biography of Robert Joffrey and she doesn't come off well. Certainly her break with Joffrey and her ultimate decision to close the Harkness Ballet suggest some one who is more interested in personal gratification than in fowarding either an artist or an art form. Harkness seems like an interesting candidate for a biography.

Perhaps great teachers/ballet mistresses would be worth a separate thread? I think Alexandra recently suggested a book on this topic, and I concur.

A figure about whom I am curious in the post-Diaghilev Ballet Russe saga is Rene Blum. At least one of the Balanchine biographies mentions that Balanchine thought well of him or, at least, thought he was a person of taste, and was unhappy when "Colonel de Basil" took over, and I believe he was a relation (brother or cousin?) of Leon Blum and spent (or ended?) a part of his life in a concentration camp...In short, a ballet patron who lived more or less at the fulcrum of European history in the 30's. I usually hesitate to write when my memory is so absurdly blurry, but would be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows more.

MacArthur certainly seem to fall into this category with their MacArthur Foundations's Fellowsip awards! Although I just posted this under Links, I felt that many people might not even see it...as not everybody checks them...

Today the choreographer Liz Lerman, the Director and Founder of Dance Exchange in Tacoma, MD was just awarded a fellowship. She will receive $500,000 over the course of the next five years -with "no strings attached"!

The array of the different kinds recipients is truly astounding.

Thank goodness for these patron saints and guardian angels and for their foresight!

P.S. By the way, this is a very interesting thread - so much information from so many.

Along similar lines, there was Ed Sullivan on television. The "dance team of Villella and McBride" made regular appearances on the show, along with many other dancers and singers. Live television was a mixed blessing for the dancers though. Over the years, Villella broke eight of his toes dancing on the cement floors of TV studios.